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All reviews fresh snow blue runs great resort value for money great slopes other resorts snow cannons half the price off piste half term gondola lift blue slopes main gondola bars and restaurants visited bansko next year great value

Hi there,
My friend and I are looking to book a trip ski to Bulgaria over Christmas (dec 20-30). I have read a lot of mixed reviews on both Borovets and Bansko, stating that the ski at both resorts is not very catered to advanced...More

The site is well organised, not too crowded. My kids (ages 11-21) took the guided group classes and found them useful. Easy to find accommodation in a walking distance from the Gondola, but there are also shuttles. Many stores to rent all the equipment you...More

Where do I start?
- Only one lift to go up to the main ski area which typically has a queue for about 1.5 hours and then you get to the ski area and there a queues like you have never seen before. Truly awful!...More

Had read many of the awful reviews before visiting so felt a bit apprehensive, however, was very pleasantly surprised. Queued for the region of 30 min for the gondola at 9am in March (9th-10th) but there were no queues on the mountain. Slopes were mostly...More

Bansko is a small city for ski and snowboard lovers, very cheap and nice. The site is about 70 km of snow routes located around beautiful trees. a great site to start snowboarding and even a weekend can be cool for it.

This place has changed for the worst, I have the feeling the gondolas are deliberately slowed down to push forward the development of a new gondola. Not the right approach as this pushed people away not towards. We queued for nearly 2 hrs in the...More

Highly recommend Bansko Ski Center. Let start from beginning. Plenty hotels, near Gondola, lot of rental for ski equipment. Ok, you will rent average ski equipment but for couple days fair enough. Now Gondola, you have to wait up to 1h but still I was...More

I went as a group of 14, aged between 20 and 30 and skiing/boarding experience from first timers to very advanced.
The town itself is great! cheap food and drink, good night life, not much more you can ask for really! The negatives I read...More

Quoting from the BanskoBlog which has been an accurate source of information for me in the past!...
'The only way to get such pass is to be a guest of Kempinski Grand Arena Hotel, Premier and a few more high category... More

Quoting from the BanskoBlog which has been an accurate source of information for me in the past!...
'The only way to get such pass is to be a guest of Kempinski Grand Arena Hotel, Premier and a few more high category establishments! If you are not their guest, you cannot simply go and purchase a VIP pass. There is no other way, nor an online source, that could provide this extra. So don’t believe people who are telling you otherwise.'
This is the impression I got last time I was there. The best thing to do if you aren't at one of these hotels is to buy a pass online (cheaper) and then get to the Gondola around 15 mins before it opens so you can be at the front of the queue... if this doesn't work then find one of the lads in the car park with a minibus/mpv who act as make shift taxi services and will drive you up to the top for a pre agreed price around £10.00. We did this last season and will be doing it again when we go this season! normally get to the top before the first gondola arrives!
Have fun and stay safe!

Bansko is overcrowded and dangerous. Too many hotels. Not enough lifts. Never seen so many injuries. 2 hour queue for gondola every morning. Ridiculous. Forced to pay for taxi to get to top instead of waiting hours every day. DO NOT SKI BANSKO UNTIL THEY GET ANOTHER LIFT TO THE TOP.

February 21, 2017|

Response fromPhil B|

There are many ways to avoid the Gondola queue in Bansko. Not sure you have skied in other European/American ski resorts during mid term holidays... You will be surprised to find even longer queues.